THE LEAGUE

The Introduction

Welcome to the DTNBA! We are the best Dynasty Basketball Keeper League in the world! The league consists of 30 NBA teams, each of which is run by an individual GM. That’s right. 30 teams. 30 individual GMs.

The DTNBA is a fantasy simulation league using Jump Shot Pro Basketball 5.70 by Shot Sports Software (http://shotsports.com/). From year-to-year, GMs manage their rosters and compete against each other in an 82 game daily simulation. Full box scores are uploaded to a central website (Scores and Schedules) and vital stats such as league leaders, current standings and MVP races are tracked on a daily basis.

During the course of each season, each GM will call the shots on who plays and who doesn’t, make trades and pick up players from the free agent pool. Just like the real NBA, there are a handful of teams that are in a current rebuilding phase and will make moves with the future in mind. Other teams will go all out and go for the championship and therefore, might break the bank for their shot at the title. Since this is a keeper league, every move you make has consequences for the immediate and extended future. Your job is to direct and build your team to whatever timeline or fashion that you see fit.

GMs will build their franchises through yearly rookie drafts, free agency and trades. The league is run by an appointed commissioner who simulates games in a head-to-head matchup for each night of the simulation schedule. A full NBA schedule is played, complete with an entire 7-game series playoff to determine an annual winner. All communication is done through email or the league website. Participation levels can vary from simply checking and reading your emails every few days. If you’re hardcore, you’ll check the website every day, engage in multiple trade talks and participate in general league and basketball discussions. It’s up to you, and in the end, it’s whatever you make of it.

The Kahning! (formerly the Horrible GM process)

Throughout the season, GMs will receive and make trade offers; GMs that receive offers are expected to reply promptly (promptly being defined as within 48 hours). If a reply is not received promptly, the GM may send an e-mail to horriblegm@gmail.com with the team name in the title; it will be up to you if you want to include e-mail attachments or details, but this will make reviews easier. If the Commissioner receives this email, the offending team has been Kahned.

If a team receives 3 or more Kahns, they will be put on notice for the remainder of that season. If the team receives another 3 more Kahns in any other interval, that GM will be booted.

The only exception to this rule are when a GM needs to tend to an emergency, e.g. things involving hospitals. For the reason that phones can send e-mails and also that trips are planned well in advance, holidays and trips are not defined as emergencies. GMs are expected to make every effort to notify at least 1 person that they will be unavailable, that GM can then relay the message on.

Respond to every trade offer. I understand the annoyance of dealing with low-ball offers, but at the same time, it would literally take you 3 seconds to reply back with “No”. Maybe the other guy comes back with another offer, maybe he doesn’t, but at least you close the loop.

The Rookie Draft

Please note that the rookie draft is comprised of all players taken from #1 to #60 during the real NBA draft. It is important to realize that choosing #8 DOES NOT assign whoever was taken at that slot in the real NBA to your team. You draft any available player that you want to at your slot. So if you like a guy taken at #12 and you’re picking at #8, then you’re free to take him if he hasn’t already been taken.

Time limit 12 hours for each pick no matter what round it is. Each GM always has the option of sending their top X amount of choices to the Commish or another fellow GM for a proxy pick if you think you won’t be around near your 12 hour limit.

With that being said, I’m aware that a flux of maneuvering happens in the first round when GM’s see a player drop to a certain slot. Sometimes these trades require extra time to sort out the gory details or just to have the participating GM respond. In this case, any GM can call a “time out” for these situations and 12 hours will be added to the original deadline, effectively making your selection period 24 hours from when you were on the clock.

If a GM fails to make a pick in the 12 hour period, then the draft will continue to move on with the next GM in line making their pick. A GM who has missed their pick in this fashion can jump in at any time and select from the available pool of players. If anything, this should motivate those GM’s picking directly after the tardy GM to get their picks in as soon as possible. This way, the draft doesn’t stop moving and everyone should be aware that the GM picking directly after you is probably watching the clock like a hawk.

The Wheelin’ and Dealin’

When the commissioner opens rosters for free agency or rookie draft, trades can be made.

Trades are made when two or more GMs agree to trade players, both confirm the trade to the Commissioner, and the trade values work. “Trade values” are indicated by the players’ salary cap values. International players are considered (1) value and draft picks are considered (1) value. All trades being made need to be within 1 point of each other. See “The Squad – The Salary” for more details.

GMs can’t add players to a trade to make the salary number work, only to trade them back right away. This is a way to get around the Salary Cap system. You can add players to the trade to make the numbers work but GMs can release players. Once players are released, they fall under the free agent rules.

For draft picks, from the end of the rookie draft until the end of the season, only picks in the upcoming draft can be traded.

The Free Agents

Every season, the commissioner will announce when free agents can be signed. This will be date and time specific as usually there are multiple GMs looking to sign the same player. This season will open typically a few weeks after the completion of the rookie/mini draft. Signing free agents will be done on the forums. With multiple email services and multiple ISPs, time stamping can be a little off and jumping the gun will not land you the player you are looking for. The forums are time stamped and it’s the only common denominator for everyone. Once Free Agency opens up, teams are allowed 1 signing for the first week. After that week has passed, teams are allowed 1 signing per 24 hours.

When a player is dropped from a team, the player is available in the free agent pool. The player must be in the free agent pool for a minimum of 12 hours from time stamp of release before he can be signed to another team. Each team can only sign one Free Agent per 24 hours.

Where is the list of Free Agents? There isn’t one. It’s your job to keep track of who’s available; anyone playing in the NBA that’s not on a DTNBA roster is available to be picked up.